


Pranks and Crushes

by jjuu1l



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Getting Together, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, There’s pranks, and a rock wall, and probably a second chapter, idk - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 08:30:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15553716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjuu1l/pseuds/jjuu1l
Summary: They’d managed to figure out a few things about the prankster.1. The culprit had a crush on someone in the Hermes cabin.2. They knew a lot about the defenses set up around the Hermes cabin.3. They were bold as hell.





	Pranks and Crushes

**Author's Note:**

> Did I use some of the same names from the fireworks series? Yes, bc consistency will keep me from forgetting which ocs go where.
> 
> Also if you haven’t read that series yet, please do. It’s fantastic and amazing and honestly helped me fall in love with this ship in the first place.

    “Hey! Mitchell, what’re you up to?” Connor slung his arm around Mitchell’s shoulders with a certain grace as he dropped into the available spot next to him. If Mitchell was honest, he would’ve admitted that he’d been expecting this talk for weeks now. He would also admit that his heart sped up just a little itty-bitty bit at the placement of Connor’s arm.

    But he wasn’t being honest.

    “I’m not telling you who pranked your cabin Connor. I was sworn to secrecy.” To Connor’s credit, he acted genuinely offended that Mitchell assumed he was only trying to get information. Unfortunately, that also seemed to scare off his younger siblings, who he knew would hound him with questions about the secret prankster’s identity later.

    It’d been weeks since someone had spray painted the entire Hermes cabin an annoyingly bright shade of emerald green, and they were still searching for the culprit. A search that had only brought up a few clues.

  1. The culprit had a crush on someone in the Hermes cabin.



    That much had been gathered from the way the spray paint washed away to reveal a heart with a C in the middle. It’d taken days of arguing between the Aphrodite cabin and Hermes cabin before they eventually conceded that the C was most likely the initial of the crush, and not the crushee.

    Luckily, there were currently only two campers with the initial C in the Hermes cabin. Connor Stoll, co-counselor and prankster extraordinaire, and Callie Fox, the newest addition to the Hermes cabin and the girl who had single handedly beat the mile times set by Connor. Most people considered her Connor’s apprentice, knowing that she would eventually take over the role of counselor when Travis and Connor left for college.

   A couple of people argued that the C also could’ve been for Cecil, but that line of questioning was quickly put to rest. Cecil had left almost a week before and wasn’t expected to be back at camp for the next month. So, if the prankster really was trying to go after Cecil then they’d picked a horrible time to do so.

  1. They knew a  _lot_ about the defenses set up around the Hermes cabin.



    Anyone who had ever dared to try and prank the Hermes cabin directly knew that they had numerous and embarrassing traps. That way they could identify the poor soul who thought it was a wise idea to take the fight to their home turf.

    But the morning everyone discovered cabin 11 painted green the Hermes cabin had regretfully informed Chiron that they didn’t have a way to track the culprit. None of their traps had been triggered, and no one had been awake enough to get a look at them. In fact, one of the younger members had accidentally triggered a trap that morning, trying to get a good look at their cabin.

    That poor kid was still trying to get glitter out of his hair.

  1. They were bold as hell.



    No one had successfully pranked the Hermes cabin since Katie Gardner had gotten the Stoll brothers back several years before. That had only occurred after Katie and Travis had started dating and Katie had pulled an inside job. Covering the entire inside of the cabin with weeds that they’d spent months pulling out of their cabin.

    And this couldn’t have been an inside job. None of the campers had significant others, and Travis and Katie had left to visit her dad a few days before it had happened.

    “You wound me Mitchie! I was just coming over to help you out with your crafts!” He gestured vaguely at the table they were sitting at. Unfortunately for him-

    “You came over here to help me make friendship bracelets?” Mitchell raised an eyebrow and silently thanked his godly mother that he’d done his eyebrows that morning. Most days he could get away with just brushing them, but today he’d decided to be extra and ask Drew to help him out with his eyebrows.

    Connor glanced over at the table, taking in the sight of dozens of half finished bracelets that Mitchell’s siblings had left behind in their haste to find out more about who the secret prankster could’ve been. Not that they would find out on their own, no one besides Mitchell actually knew the identity of the prankster.

    “Would you believe me if I told you I had the newest Naked palette hidden away in our cabin? And it’s all yours if you just tell us who the prankster is?” And for a second Mitchell considered giving away the identity of the secret prankster. Connor was just too cute with his pout and his adorable freckles and-

     _Don’t let yourself get distracted by cute boys!_ He scolded himself,  _you promised her that you wouldn’t tell anyone._

    “Sorry cutie, even if I do believe you, I’ve been sworn to secrecy. This is a game you and Callie need to play by yourselves. I’m not going to give any hints.” He replied with a smile and a shrug. This caused Connor to frown at him, something that Mitchell definitely did  _not_ like. Someone so prone to smiling like Connor looked like an alien with a frown.

    “Wait- you think I’m cute?” Mitchell felt his face grow a little warmer. He was saved from having to explain himself by Callie plopping down across the table from them. She appeared utterly defeated and dramatically let her head fall onto the table.

    She mumbled something into the wood about ‘stupid children of Athena and their stupid activities’. And even though Mitchell had promised the prankster that he would stay out of it…

    “You like a child of Athena?” Her response was immediate. Callie jumped up and Mitchell could feel the embarrassment radiating off of her. He could also feel the pure love, or almost love, coming off of her.

       He was always cautious when he received feelings from people. It was easy to confuse a small crush for true love, especially when the person putting out those emotions wasn’t entirely sure of what they were feeling.

       “No! Why would I like a child of Athena, well I mean, they’re not  _all_ bad. Some of them are funny and nice and really pretty… But most of them are like too smart! And they don’t want to listen to what you have to say and- and- they’re just annoying sometimes!” She waved her hands around in an annoyed manner and continued her tirade on just how bad children of Athena were. Mitchell could tell by the way she was grasping at straws however that Callie most likely  _did_ have feelings for a child of Athena. And if his mother had any say in it, then she would likely have a crush on who he thought she had a crush on.

      Enter Natalie Woodson.

      Natalie Woodson was the newest member of the Athena cabin. She’d spent the night in the Hermes cabin when she’d first arrived, as the magic surrounding the Athena cabin wouldn’t let her in until she was claimed. It was late enough that despite their agreement the Gods almost always refused to claim them. They all enjoyed the drama of it all too much.

       In that time, she’d developed a crush on a certain daughter of Hermes. After that it hadn’t taken her long to come knocking on the Aphrodite cabin when she’d realized she wanted to act on her feelings. Of course, Mitchell had told her to become friends before acting on anything. Then the two were connected at the hip, and a few weeks later Natalie was back at his cabin. Then he told her that she should do something to get her attention.

      That’s where things started getting sticky.

      “I just- she’s just! Ugh! I’m so done with feelings!” She announced letting her head fall with a thump onto the table. Connor, apparently having no sympathy just shook his head at her and turned back to Mitchell.

      “So, you definitely know who the prankster is.” He said like it was a definite fact. Which it was, but that wasn’t something he needed Connor knowing. “And you’re not going to tell us because~?”

       “Because they want their crush to figure it out for themselves. They also probably thought that you’d see the prank and realize it was them without all of this.” He gestured to Callie, who was continuously bouncing her head off the table, unceremoniously knocking different colored strings onto the ground. Then to Connor who looked ready to spring out of his seat and into mischief. “You two need to figure this out for yourselves. Either that or find a way to ask for more clues. It’s up to you to decide which way you want to go.”

       With that quite eloquent answer Mitchell picked up his friendship bracelet and left to help wrangle his younger siblings into their next activity.

 

       Connor was having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea that they’d been pranked. Not because that it’d been successful, both he and Travis knew that there were weak spots in their security. That was the fun part of pranks, finding someone clever and devious enough to successfully prank them back.

        No, the issue that Connor couldn’t seem to stomach was the fact that the mysterious prankster apparently had a crush on him. Well, him or Callie, as they hadn’t figured out which one of them was the reason behind this whole thing.

        As far back as he could remember, Connor had never been the person people had crushes on. He was the one that his younger siblings went to when they needed advice on a crush or wanted revenge in the form of a prank. In the several years he’d been at camp there had only been exactly one person who’d had a crush on him. And then he’d had to explain that he and Travis were not the same person, and the person had acted awkward around him for the next few months until they moved back to their parents’ house.

        It wasn’t something he’d ever really cared about, he didn’t crush on people often enough to be disappointed when they didn’t like him back. But with the whole mystery surrounding them?

        Well, it wasn’t like he could just  _stop_ thinking about it, now could he?

        “I have a plan!” Travis’s declaration was punctuated by their cabin door slamming shut. The few campers in their cabin were simultaneously brought out of their various hobbies, that included taking inventory, writing a book report, feeding a goldfish, and attempting to recreate Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

         They were a cabin of varied interests.

         “What kind of plan?” Lydia asked, her head popping out from the ceiling. She had a habit of hiding away in their attic/stock pile/hidden room whenever she was feeling especially jittery. Connor wasn’t going to complain, he was just glad someone was doing inventory on a semi regular basis.

          “The kind of plan that would draw the prankster out of hiding.” He announced, thoroughly catching everyone’s attention. The mattress above Connor’s head squeaked loudly as Lydia plopped down from the ceiling. He hoped she’d finished inventory before leaving. “As you all know, we have been pranked. Although the idea could’ve used a little work, the execution of said prank was pulled off flawlessly! Which means two things! 1, it was an inside job, or 2, the prankster has extensive knowledge of our cabin!”

          This began to lose him everyone’s attention. They’d come to  _those_ conclusions a few minutes after they realized they’d been pranked. Everyone knew that those were the only options that made any sense at all. Lydia reached up with a disappointed sigh to go back to the attic.

          “Or option 3,” Travis added after a quite dramatic pause. This caught everyone’s attention once again. “They’re a close friend of one of us!” Connor considered arguing that the prankster being a close friend of one of them would have counted as an inside job. But he knew that Travis was on a roll, and stopping wasn’t exactly an option.

          “So, what’s the plan to get the prankster out of hiding?” Riley asked from the back of the cabin, she’d shut the lid to her fish tank. Something that Connor had elected to not ask about… until it inevitably caused a problem of some sort.

           “Connor and Callie get a boyfriend and/or a girlfriend!” He looked quite proud of himself. Connor however was choking on his own spit.

           Was that really the best plan he had? Just magically conjure up a boyfriend for Connor and a significant other for Callie? Most days Connor considered himself lucky that no one hated him for the pranks he pulled, and now Travis just wanted him to date someone?

           “You want us to do what now?” Callie asked her voicing cracking on a few words. Her voice tended to break the laws of the universe on a normal day, coming out naturally high. Yet her shock sent her voice to a pitch he suspected only dogs could hear.

           “You’ll date someone, and it’ll make the prankster angry and act out again. They’ll prank us again, but we’ll be prepared this time!” The idea wasn’t the worst one he’d ever come up with. No, that idea went to trying to convince Chiron that a mullet would be a good idea.

           Some of his siblings seemed to consider the idea. With Lydia pulling out a list from under her pillow and explaining that a child of Aphrodite would be the most likely to date them. Which lead Connor to think about a certain son of Aphrodite and the way he always seemed to look his best even when-

           Nope, no way, he refused to fall down that rabbit hole.

          “Or! It won’t bring the prankster out and Connor and I will be stuck in relationships with people we don’t really like!” Callie objected looking over at Connor for help.

           It wasn’t a secret that Callie had a crush on someone. Nor was it a secret that her crush was someone in cabin 6. What  _was_ a secret was  _who_ exactly the person was that Callie had a crush on.

           “You could always ask the person from cabin 6 that you like.” Connor pointed out, because if he was going to be thrown into this convoluted plot, then he was going to have _something_ good come out of it.

           She shot him a glare that made it clear that she was angry with him.

           “I could not! She would- I mean- oh Hades.” The room filled with excited gasps. Callie had finally let something slip about her crush.

           “It’s Natalie isn’t it!” Phoebe cried excitedly, she had always been good at knowing everything about everyone. It made sense that she would be the first to actually figure out who it was that Callie liked, even if it did take some outside help.

           Callie’s face turned bright red as she adamantly denied her crush. It was adorable that she believed that she could try and throw them off this new development.

           “You know what this means!” Travis interrupted with a devious smile. The same smile they all shared, it spread like wildfire through their cabin as everyone began to realize what Travis meant.

            “Prank war?” Lydia asked, looking around hopefully. She was clutching the clipboard to her chest like they were about to tell her they were going to Disneyland. Granted, Lydia being one of the youngest in their cabin, hadn’t been around when Travis was ‘courting’ Katie.

            He shook his head, and everyone began planning. Phoebe set down her paint palette and covered the Mona Lisa with a bed sheet that was probably ‘borrowed’ from someone else’s bed.

           It occurred to Connor that they probably wouldn’t find out who the prankster was if it wasn’t Natalie. But they would have fun raging pranks on the Athena cabin until Callie admitted her feelings to Natalie. It was the same thing they’d done for Travis and Katie. And now they were happy together! Obviously, that would work for Callie and Natalie, right?

 

           “You need to stop pranking the Athena cabin or else we’re going to retaliate. And it’s not going to be pretty Cal.” Mitchell heard Natalie whisper to Callie a few days later.

           At first Mitchell had believed that Callie had figured out that Natalie had pranked them. Then he’d overheard Callie complaining to Connor that pranking her crush’s cabin was distracting them from finding the real secret prankster. Connor had replied that it was better than the other option, and she’d reluctantly agreed that he was right.

           This led Mitchell to wonder just what that other option was and why it was so bad.

           “Then retaliate! Nobody’s stopping you!” Callie responded shrugging like it wasn’t bothering her at all. Though Mitchell could practically cut her internalized tension with an arrow. All of her feelings were rushing out of her like water down a waterfall. It was hard to  _not_ notice what was happening.

           “You don’t want us to do that. Why are you guys pranking us anyway? We haven’t done anything to you.” Natalie asked pulling her harness on just a bit too tightly. Frustration rolling off her in waves.

           “We prank everyone. You guys are just used to bribing us into leaving you alone, now we’re just getting you back.” Callie snapped back shoving a helmet towards Natalie. She took a deep breath in through her nose and picked up her own helmet. “Besides it’s not like you guys are getting any bad pranks.”

           “I had to go to the infirmary yesterday because your stupid hexes wouldn’t let me walk two feet without falling!” Her voice turned dangerous as she clipped the climbing gear on.

           Mitchell rolled his eyes, with those two climbing up together they would need a relationship counselor by the time they reached the top. He made his wave over to where Connor was standing. Apparently trying to man both Natalie and Callie’s ropes at the same time.

           “Need help?” He asked as Connor decided that holding both ropes in the same hand would be the best option. He opened his mouth as if to deny the help, but the frustrated groan coming from his younger sibling and her crush seemed to dissuade the idea.

           “Wanna take Natalie’s rope?” He offered up the rope to Mitchell, who took it with a good-natured eye roll.

    Connor was wearing cargo shorts that had seen better days and a tank top that had definitely been a regular shirt at some point. On most people it would remind him of his best mortal friend’s dad. Who, while being a sweetheart and trying his best, was not the most attractive man he’d ever met. Yet somehow,  _somehow_ Connor was managing to pull it off. His biceps were incredibly well sculpted, and he couldn’t help but imagine what the rest of his chest looked like.

    “Hey, Mitchell? Can you please keep the rope tight?” Natalie asked from the rock wall. He yelled out a ‘Yeah!’ after shooting her an apologetic look. Instead of saying anything sarcastic she just shot him an uninterested glare and glanced at Connor. Which, 1, rude, and 2, why did she have to play him like that.

    When both of the younger campers had begun climbing Mitchell glanced over at Connor, only to find him staring right back. They locked eyes for a second before Connor looked away, his cheeks a shade of red that Mitchell found he liked a lot.

    “Why are you guys targeting the Athena cabin so much?” He asked once the campers were half way up the wall. They’d shut off the lava for the week so that newer campers could get used to a lavaless rock wall before jumping into the lava-filled rock wall. Allowing Mitchell to pay slightly less attention to his climber than he naturally would.

    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Connor responded with a shrug that he probably would’ve come off as nonchalant had he not been so nervous. But Mitchell could feel his nervousness mixing in with the feelings of the two climbing campers. It wasn’t a spot he  _wanted_ to be in, but he was there and he was determined to get answers.

    “Are you sure about that?” Turning on the ‘Aphrodite Charm’ as they liked to call it, was enough to make almost anyone fall just a little bit in love with you. Sometimes it was platonic love, other times it was romantic love, it was genuinely hard to tell sometimes, and if you weren’t careful you could cause some incredibly awkward situations.

    But Connor’s demeanor didn’t change at all. He just rolled his eyes and shot back a one liner that would’ve made Percy Jackson proud.

    So, he turned up the charm a bit more. Tilted his head in a way that usually had people wrapped around his finger, but instead of blushing or stumbling over his words, Connor was just Connor.

    He was sarcastic and cracking jokes every time one of the girls started getting tired or talked about climbing back down. Easing their worry into something easier to handle. Mitchell caught himself sending more than a few glances his way as the girls made their way up the wall. He was only truly brought out of his hazy post-realization state was when the two girls reached the top.

    “Okay, we’re coming down- Ah!” It was impossible for him to see what had happened, Natalie’s movements were a blur as she fell down several feet. Coming to an abrupt stop a few feet away from the lowest tier of the wall. Her back was to the wall when she finally came to a stop and then she just- she just hung there. Her face caught in a terrified expression as she stared down. “I’m stuck.” She announced after a couple of seconds of silence.

    “What part of you is stuck?” Mitchell asked, pulling on the rope experimentally and finding it impossible to pull anymore.

    “The back of my harness is caught on one of the rocks! Mitch what if I fall? I- I don’t know if I’d survive a fall from this high up! The chances of me surviving would be incredibly slim, especially with the cooled lava at the base of the wall! It wouldn’t be very hard to land wrong on my-” She was cut off by the sound of Callie’s shoes squeaking against the rocks. It wouldn’t take long for her to get over to Natalie’s position.

    “Nat! Shut up! I’ll just come down and unhook you, you’ll be fine. You just need to stay calm.” Her shoes squeaked awkwardly against another handhold and Mitchell couldn’t help the nerves flooding his stomach. The rope refused to move from its position, causing a quite traumatic vision of Natalie falling from her current spot to the- before his thoughts could spiral anymore Connor had a hand on his shoulder.

    “Hey, are you okay? We can switch ropes if you need to.” He offered up his rope with a look of concern plastered on his face. Mitchell shook his head, he could and  _would_ be able to help her. All he needed to do was focus on not letting the rope slip out of his grasp.

    That was easy enough, right?

    “Mitchell are you ready to help hold up her weight?” Scaling several yards of space in a couple of seconds was apparently quite easy for Callie. As she had done just that in the few seconds that Mitchell’s thoughts had spiraled.

    “Yeah, just be careful.” Natalie’s face resembled a Halloween mask, horrified and ready to be done with this entire experience. Something that Mitchell knew he was reflecting as well.

    As Mitchell readied the rope in his hands he could feel Connor’s gaze on his back. Even now that he didn’t have his Aphrodite Charm turned up he could still almost taste Connor’s interest. Not that he could exactly tell what Connor was interested in, for all he knew it could’ve been the socks Mitchell was wearing. Being able to read intense emotions only worked out if he knew the person well enough to decode their emotions.

    Before he had a chance to consider Connor any further his attention was brought back to Natalie who was whisper-yelling at Callie as she tried to convince her to calm down. He couldn’t hear the majority of the conversation but gathered that Callie was slowly convincing Natalie to calm down.

    Luckily unhooking Natalie was much less dramatic than he’d expected, and within a few seconds both girls were on the ground again.

    “Thank the gods you-” Natalie cut Callie off with a kiss on the cheek. Quickly pulling away and hurrying through the process of taking off her harness and helmet. Callie had stopped cold, her hand halfway up to her cheek as she stared unbelievingly at Natalie. “You kissed me?”

    “No, I definitely did not do that.” She hung up her gear and reached over to grab the baseball cap she’d been wearing before they’d started up the wall. Mitchell watched as she fiddled nervously with her cap, while Connor looked like he was about to burst out in laughter.

    “Oh, okay.” She replied slowly moving towards taking off her gear. Natalie nodded and turned and sped towards Arts and Crafts. Then it must’ve hit Callie because she began to shuck off her gear. “Wait! That’s not how this works!” Callie ran after Natalie, and though Mitchell was sure they could figure out their feelings. Part of him wanted to follow along to find out what happened next.

    “Woah, who would’ve guessed that Natalie liked Callie back.” Connor wondered aloud, staring at their retreating figures. Callie tackled Natalie from behind which ended with Natalie pinning Callie to the ground. Undoubtedly with her forearm on Callie’s neck, Athena kids had the best reactions to these sorts of things.

    “Almost everyone. She’s been hanging around you guys’ cabin since she got here.” He pointed out. Taking the rope, he’d been holding and tying it to the post. Connor looked at him like he’d grown another head.

    “Huh, she has, hasn’t she?” Mitchell let out an amused laugh and shook his head at Connor’s obliviousness.

    “Well, now that her crush is out in the air, I can probably tell you that she was the one to prank your cabin.” Connor’s mouth fell open, and it took all of Mitchell’s strength to not comment on how strange it was that all the Hermes kids apparently had a pranking kink. Did it run in their blood? Were kinks like genes? He’d have to ask Drew what she thought of this phenomenon later.

    “All by herself?” He stared off at Callie and Natalie, who were now holding hands and strolling off towards the Strawberry fields. If Mitchell had to guess, he’d say that the Hermes cabin was done pranking the Athena cabin for a while.

    “Don’t look so impressed Stoll, it’s really not that hard.” Connor’s attention shifted to Mitchell as he waved goodbye and made his way towards the Athena cabin. He had some plans to pick up.

 

    “This is so hot.” Connor stared at his cabin, which had once again been painted. This time a pretty shade of red, with a very clear message. Mostly because the message was written across the side of their cabin.

     _You + Me, The strawberry fields 7, Friday, With love, M <3_

    “Connor, if you don’t marry this boy, I will. Katie and I would find a way to make it work.” His older brother commented with a cat eye so sharp it could kill the minotaur.

    Because waking up to find your entire cabin spray painted was old news now. But waking up to your entire cabin wearing makeup that was magically stuck to your face? That was genius, for anyone who wasn’t a child of Hermes anyways.

    “Will you make sure everyone gets to breakfast?” Connor asked, Travis nodding his head approvingly. With the morning taken care of, Connor raced off.

    He had a boy to see.


End file.
